Luis Valdes, a former law enforcement officer currently serving as Florida director of Gun Owners of America (GOA), said although the state of Illinois has some of the most comprehensive gun control laws in the country, that did not prevent the Independence Day mass shooting.
By state law in Illinois, parades are designated gun-free zones, Valdes said, which only emboldens would-be-mass shooters. Anyone that could have been legally armed to stop Crimo was disarmed by the actions of the state, he said.
GOA is working to preserve and expand Second Amendment rights for lawful gun owners, and Valdes said he believes the government should not be creating situations like the July 4 parade, where a gunman can open fire and there is no way for the average citizen to protect themselves and their community.
The Second Amendment is there to help preserve individual liberties, said Valdes.
No New Gun Laws
Valdes said he does not want to see stricter gun control laws as a response to mass shooting incidents.“I was a 15-year veteran law enforcement officer here in the state of Florida, and the biggest and repeated instances that I’m seeing from all these events is there are multiple points of contact with law enforcement and these suspects, especially in places like Illinois,” said Valdes.
Illinois already has a red flag law, background checks, and permitting requirements for gun ownership, he said.
Crimo applied for a state Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card—which is issued by the Illinois State Police—in December 2019 when he was 19 years old, state police said in a news release.
Valdes said he believes these laws are not stopping mass shooters and that one of the solutions would be to stop giving the shooter so much media attention and encouraging “copycat shooters.”